Means for protecting drilling-ropes against wear.



Vw. H. CATER. MEANSFOR PROTECIING DRILLING ROPES AGAINST WEAR.

Patented July' el,v 1916.

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.l .UNITED STATES. PATENT oFFIcE.

WILLIAM H. CATER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

MEANS FOR PROTEGTING Specification of Letters Patent.

DRILLING-ROPES AGAINST WEAR.

Patented July 4, 1916.

Application inea March 15,'1916.` seriai No. 84,368.

To all whom t 'may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM I-I. CATER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Protect.-

ing Drilling-Ropes Against Wear, of which the following is a specification, referenceA being had to the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates to means for protectmg a rope against Wear when used 1n drilling a well or. under similar conditions.

l in which my protecting means is serviceable When a rope is drawn up and down in a j duced by the sandstone is very rapid compared to that produced by any otherportion. It is the principal object of my invention to provide the drilling rope of a well sinking rig of this type with means bywhich the` portion of therope being reciprocated and alternately. tightened and slacked vin the sandstone portion of the bore may be protected against undue wear, such protecting means being preferably removable or otherwise adjustable so as to becapable of being shifted upward along -the'rope'asthe line of drilling tools passes through and beyond the stratum of sandstone.

It is another object of my invention to provideeiiicient and :serviceable protecting devices of a type especially adapted for the use for which they are designed, and to provide other improvements cally set forth.

-The preferred means by which I have accomplished my several'objects are illustrated in the drawings and are hereinafter specifi- ,cally described. That which I believe 'to be new and desire to cover by this application is set forth in the claims.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a diagrammaticview illustrating a well-sinking rig embodying my improvements; Fig. 2 is a view showing a portion of the bore of a well and illustrating in dotted vlines the manner hereinafter specififor attaining the desired end; Fig. 8 is a view showing a section of rope with one of my protecting devices secured thereon by being bent about the rope and pressed tightly into contact therewith; Fig. 4 isa view of the inside face of my protecting device before its application to a rope; Fig. 5 is an end view of the part 'shown in Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is a View of a modified form of protecting device before its application to a' rope;`F ig. 7 is a view showing a section of rope with the device of Fig. 6 secured thereon; Fig. 8 is a view of still another form of protecting device; and Fig. 9 is a view showing a short jlength of rope with the device of Fig. 8 secured thereon.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 5,.in which corresponding parts are indicated by thesane reference chara`cters,-15 indicates a derrick of any suitable type mounted at the upper endof a well 1G. Pivotally mounted upon the derrick 15 at one side thereof is a walking-beam 17 adapted to be reciprocated by a crank 18 connected thereto by means of a link 19. The crank 18 is adapted to be vdriven from any suitable source of power. The operative end of the walking-beam 17 is adapted to be adjustably connected by any suitable means with a cable 20 extending down into the well, carrying. at its lower end 'a line ofdrilling tools 21 of any suitable type. The -cable 2O is preferably in the forlm of a wire rope. The cable extends, from the point of its connection with the walkingbeam, upward over a sheave 22 at the upper vend of the derrick 15 and thence downward about a reel 23 of any suitable type mounted upon the derrick. p

As is well understood, the crank 18 is designed to be rotated at such a rate as to give the operative end of the walking-.beam

'17 a downward stroke in approximately the time required for the line of drilling tools to drop the,` distance through which the end of Ythe beam is moved. In this movement during the greater portion of the downward stroke the operative end of the walkingbeam moves in advance of the drilling tools whereby such tools are permitted to drop for striking a sharp'blow at the bottom of the bore. The upward movement of the 'operativeend of the vbeam is designed to be timed to catch the line of boring tools and to 4start their upward movement before YVthey are permitted to strike a second time following the rebound of the tools. When the Walking-beam is given its rapid downward movement in excess of the speed at which the drilling tools descend, the cable 2Ov is slackened momentarily, permitting the rope to be brought into Contact with the walls of the bore, as illust-rated by dotted lines in F ig'. 2. When the rope is thus brought intov contact With the walls ot the portion of the bore through a stratum ot' sandstone, the strands of the rope are worn very rapidly, making necessary very soon the provision of a new cable for operating the drilling tools. In order t prevent this rapid wear upon the cable 2O when the cable is being alternately' tightened and slacked in a sandstone bore, I have provided the cable Q0 with a. plurality of protecting devices 24 at intervals along that portionof the cable extending through the sandstone. As the boring proceeds, the lowermost one of the plurality of protecting devices is preferably removed from the cable and replaced in posit-ion above the remaining protecting devices, this expedient serving to protect the constantly changing portion of the rope alternately tightened and slaclred in the sandstone portion ot' the bore without the use of an undue number of protecting devices. W'henever any portion of the rope shows undue wear, one or more protecting devices are applied to that portion of the rope without regard to its position relative to a stratum of sandstone. rl`l1`e protect-ing devicesare adapted to be secured in position upon the rope in any suitable manner, either so as to be removable therefrom and thus be adjustable along the rope, or so as to be permanently secured in position upon the rope if desired. It will be linderstood that the protecting devices are to be of such a size and shape as to permit the cable to be wound upon the drum 23 for the removal of the drilling tools from the bore whenever desired. tween the protecting devices along the cable will depend more or less upon the diameter rThe distance be-l of the bore and the thickness of the stratum of sandstone. In any event` a suthcient number of protecting devices are to be used to afford the desired protection. I have found in actual use that the distance to be maintained between the protecting devices along the cable varies from live to twenty feet under varying conditions.

The form of protecting device 24; illustrated in detail in Figs. 3, 4 and 5 comprises a strip of metal, the strip of metal having ribs or eorrugations 25 on its inner faceA shaped to conform to` the face of the cable 20 when the strip is bent about the cable as shown in Fig. 3, the strip being'thus capable of gripping the cable very tightly and being held against slippage longitudinally of the cable. p

F igs. 6 and 7 show a modilied form of protecting device 26 which comprises a thin strip of metal adapted to be wound about the cable 20a for affording the desired protection.

In Figs. 8 and 9 the protecting device 27 comprises a strip of metal adapted to be wound about the cable 2()b so as to have a diagonally-extending butt-joint, as best shown in Fig. 9.

VVhat'I claim as my invention and desire.l

to secure by Letters Patent7 isl. A device for protecting a. cable comprising a strip of metal bent to embrace the cable and tightened lirmlythereon whereby it is held against movement v.longitudinally of the cable.

2. A device for protecting a cable comprising a band of metal removably secured about the cable in fixed position thereon.

3, A device for protecting a cable lcomprising a strip of metal bent to embrace the cable and tightened lirmly thereon, the inner face of the strip being ribbed to conform to the shape oi the cable whereby the band is held againstJ movement longitudinally of the cable.

WILLIAM H. CATER. 

